Diagnostic articulator



DIAGNOSTIC ARTICULATOR Filed Oct. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 JNVENTOR. WILLIAM D HEINTZ BYGEORGE W. PETERS MAHONEY MILLER &RAMBO ATTYIS.

May 1, 1962 w. D. HEINTZ ETAL DIAGNOSTIC ARTICULATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 9, 1959 R S A NTE B EN M OW H m lE I WGm FIG. /0

United States Patent Ofiice 3,@3l,75 Fatenfed May 1, IQGZ 3,631,759 DIAGNOSTIC ARTICULATOR Wriham Heintz, 6699 Olentangy River Road, Columbus, Ohio, and George W. Peters, First National Bank Bidg, Springfield, Ohio Filed Oct. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 845,450 3 Claims. (Cl. 32-32) Our invention relates to a diagnostic articulator. It has to do, more particularly, with a diagnostic or study cast artlculator, which is an instrument upon which are attached, mounted or articulated, the casts or models of the upper and lower arches of patients by dentists for observation, study, diagnosis, and planning the work necessary for the mouth.

The diagnostic articulator of this invention is so designed and constructed that it is inexpensive yet it has the desirable features of the more expensive articulators. Because it is inexpensive, it is practical to provide an articulator for each patient so that the casts of the patients teeth can be mounted thereon and retained, whereas with the expensive articulators, it is not economically feasible to use the articulator for one patient only, but itmust be used over and over for mounting the casts of different patients.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred embodiment of our invnetion and in these drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of a diagnostic articulator embodying our invention.

FIGURE 2 is an isometric view of the upper section of the articulator.

FIGURE 3 is a similar view of the lower section of the articulator.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged detail of one of the hinge joints of the articulator, the view being taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the upper section of the articulator and illustrating by broken lines how it can be squeezed for insertion into the lower section.

FIGURE 6 is a rear elevational View of the lower section of the articulator.

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view, partly broken away, of the articulator with a model or cast thereon, the model being swung into closed or occluding position.

FIGURE 8 is a side elevational view but showing the articulator swung to fully open position and at rest.

FIGURE 9 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 9-9 of FIGURE 7 and illustrating the lateral protrusion possible with the articulator of our invention.

FIGURE 10 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through a portion of the model at the incisor teeth thereof illustrating the forward protrusion possible with our articulator.

FIGURE 11 is an enlarged detail of a locating pin structure used in connection with the articulator.

With reference to the drawings, our diagnostic articulator is shown as comprising a lower cast-supporting section 11 and an upper cast-supporting section 12 which are detachably hinged together for relative swinging movement at the two hinge joints 13. Both sections 11 and 12 are formed of spring steel wire or other suitable material of desired resiliency or elasticity and of suitable gauge. Each section 11 or 12 is preferably formed of a single piece of wire bent into proper outline or configuratron.

The lower section 11 constitutes a base section which has a flat base portion and an upstanding support portion. The section 11 is formed of a single piece of wire which has its ends soldered or welded together at a joint 14. Both ends of the wire are turned down at this joint to provide a depending supporting leg 15. From this joint 14, the wire extends laterally and outwardly as well as rearwardly at a suitable angle, as indicated at 15, and is then bent rearwardly to provide a side 17 of the base which is horizontally disposed. The opposed sides 17 of the base are disposed in parallel relationship in the same horizontal plane with the portions 16. Each side 17 dips downwardly at the rear end of the base in a bend which forms another depending leg 18. Thus, three supporting legs, comprising the pair of laterally spaced rear legs 18 and the front leg 15 which is disposed laterally midway of the legs 18, are provided for supporting the base at three points on any suitable flat surface so that the sides and portions 16 thereof will be in a plane spaced above and parallel to such surface.

From the bend 18 at each side of the base 11, the wire is continued to form an upstanding supporting leg 20 including an angular lower portion 19 and an upwardly extending upper portion 2i. Each angular portion 19 extends forwardly at a suitable angle to the junction 22 where it joins the portion 21 that is disposed ahead of the forward extent of the bend 18. It will be noted from FIGURE 6 that the legs 20 provided by the portions 19 and 21 converge towards their upper ends but that the upwardly extending portions 21 are in a transverse plane normal to the plane of the base portions 15 and 17. The upper ends of the portions 21 of the legs 2% are joined together by a transverse brace 23 which is connected to the portions 21 by means including loops 24 which serve as sockets for receiving hinge pintle portions, as will be described later. From the loops 24 to the brace 23, rearwardly extending horizontally disposed arms 25 extend with slight inclination and these will serve as stop portions, as will be described later.

It will be noted that for balance, appearance, and practicability in use, the lower or base section 11 has an overall extent or area greater than that of the upper section 1.2.

The upper section 12 is preferably made of a single piece of wire bent into substantially U-form with the sides 30 extending in spaced relationship and being joined together by the angularly disposed converging front portions 31 which meet at a midpoint 32. The portions 30 and 3-1 are in the same flat plane. The rear end of each arm 30 is bent downwardly to provide 21 depending arm 32a which is at a right angle to the connected side 30. The depending arms 32:: are in the same transverse plane and are parallel with each other. Outwardly directed hinge pintle portions 33 are formed on the lower extremities of the depending arms 32a by bending the ends of the wire inwardly and then outwardly in the form of hooks 34.

As indicated in FIGURE 5, the sides 30 of the section 12 are normally in slightly diverging relationship but when the section 12 is assembled with the section 11, they are in spaced parallel relationship as suggested by the broken lines. Thus, the normal spacing of the sides 31' is greater than that of the hinge loops 24. To assemble these sections 11 and 12, it is merely necessary to squeeze the sides 30 of the section 12 together, as indicated by the dotted lines in FIGURE 5, and position the extremities of the hinge pintle portions 33 opposite to the hinge loops 24. By realeasing the tension on the section 12, the hinge pintles 33 thereof are allowed to snap into the hinge loops 24 of the section 11. This not only hinges the two sections together but the tension, exerted by the sides 30, causes the hooks 34 to bear outwardly against the hinge loops 24 with sufi'icient frictional contact that the unloaded section 12 will be retained in any angular position to which it is swung relative to the section 11. As the section 12 swings to its rearwardmost position, it moves slightly rearwardly beyond the vertical until the hook portions 34 contact with the slightly rearwardly inclined stop arms 25 of the section 11.

The manner in which this articulator device is used is shown in FIGURES 7 to 10 inclusive. A lower section or'cast L of the teeth model is mounted on or attached to the articulator base section 11. Because the legs and 18 will space the base portions 16 and 17 above a supporting surface, the attaching material will completely surround these portions. Similarly, the upper section or cast U of the teeth model is mounted on or attached to the upper articulator section 12 so that the portions 3% and 31 of the upper section are surrounded by the attaching material. During the attaching of the model section L and U on the articulator sections 11 and 12, they are hinged together, as indicated in FIGURES 7 and 8.

With the model sections L and U mounted on the articulator in this manner, the model is readily available for study by the dentist. This study may be with the articulator sections 11 and i2 hinged or separated, since the hinge joint is such that the sections can be attached or detached readily. With the sections L and U or" the. model in closed relationship, the model of the teeth under natural occlusion can be studied, as shown in FIGURE 7. The upper cast or model section can be swung to the fully open or rest position shown in FIGURE 8. As the section or cast U moves to a position rearwardly justbeyond the vertical, the hooks 34 contact the stop arms to prevent further rearward and downward movement. This will permit the articulator to stand open for study without danger of either tipping back or falling shut forward thereby breaking teeth or the casts.

As indicated in FIGURE 9, although the articulator holds the model sections U and L in the patients natural occlusal relationship, it has suflicient flexibility to permit necessary lateral protrusion simulating the natural protrusion of the mandible during chewing. This flexibility results mainly from the material used in the articulator and its design which also give suthcient stiffness to return the sections to their normal relationship. Furthermore, as indicated in FIGURE 10, this flexibility permits forward protrusion simulating the natural forward protrusion of the mandible which occurs during incising.

if a large number of teeth are missing from the upper or lower casts U or L of the model, or both, it may be desirable to provide an attachment which tends to bring the model casts back to their original occlusal relationship. This attachment may consist of a locating pin 35 carried by the upper model cast U and depending therefrom into the cavity of the lower east L. In the bottom surface of this cavity may be provided a disc 36 which is embedded therein or attached thereto and which is provided with a dimple socket 37 of spherical form for receiving the spherical pointed end of the pin. The pin 35 has its upper end threaded into a sleeve 38 which is embedded in the cast U and a lock nut 39 will keep it in adjusted position in the sleeve. The indentation of the socket 37 is slight so that the pin point will cooperate therewith to tend to return the model sections into their original relationship, after being moved relatively forwardly or laterally, but will not prevent such movement.

Our instrument has a number of distinctive features, or advantages, most of which are found only in other expensive articulators and others of which are not found in any other diagnostic articulator.

These features are the following:

(1) There is an assured space between the lower horizontal base portion for plaster or dental stone which are the materials usually used for attaching casts to articulators.

(2) There is enough tension in the hinge joints that the upper section will stand in any position while mounting the lower cast, whereas in other articulators it falls forward to interfere with such mounting or backward to tip over the instrument.

(3) There is enough flexibility to permit all protrusive movements of the jaw, laterally and forward, and then return to original position.

(4) Both the upper and lower sections are completely closed to add strength for mounting so that although the sections have flexibility they still have sufficient rigidity to return to normal condition after flexing.

(5) The hinge joints are rigid and accurate enough to preclude any play or looseness, thus adding to the accuracy of the mounting in reproducing the relations of the two jaws and teeth in the mouth which is not true of prior art instruments.

(6) The hinge joints are simple to connect but are readily unhingeaule which permits further individual study and planning on the arches, including surveying which is the method generally used to plan the retaining clasps and metal work on partial dentures. Some other articulators are unhingeable but use more complicated hinging means whereas others are not and require dismounting or removal of the casts for surveying, partly because of bulk.

(7) After the casts are mounted there is a rest or stop which permits the articulator to stand open without falling backwards or without falling forward to fracture the teeth and no other inexpensive articulator has this feature.

(8) The'articulator, despite its many features, is small enough to allow permanent storage of this month record of each patient.

(9) Since it is inexpensive, there may be one used for each patient. This eliminates removal and exchange of casts necessary with the expensive artieulators.

(l0) it has a locating pin and disc which provide both a vertical stop and a lateral index, in the dimple or dent of the disc, when the articulator is closed and such an arrangement is not provided in other inexpensive articulators.

(ll) There is a threaded sleeve at the end of the pin making it adjustable and thus making possible the increasing of the vertical dimension if desired and this feature also is not present in prior art inexpensive articulators.

(12) The pin is placed far enough forward for a rigid stop but not out in front to interfere with the view of the teeth as in some expensive articulators.

Various other advantages will be apparent.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

l. A diagnostic articulator comprising a base section and an upper section made of resilient wire, said base section comprising a flat base portion and an upstanding support portion carrying a pair of laterally spaced hinge loops on its upper end, said upper section comprising side portions which are laterally spaced and which carry outwardly directed hinge pintle portions, said side portions being spaced greater than the hinge loops so that in assembling said sections such portions must be squeezed together to permit insertion of the pintles in said loops and thereby frictional contact will be created and maintained between said side portions and said loops. to keep the upper section in adjustably swung position relative to the base section.

2. A diagnostic articulator according to claim I in which the upstanding support portion of the base section includes side legs having lower portions which are directed angularly forwardly and which have upstanding portions at their upper ends, said upstanding portions being joined together at their upper ends by ahorizontal brace connected thereto by said hinge loops.

3. A diagnostic articulator according to claim 2 in which the hinge loops are connected to the brace by slightly rearwardly and downwardly inclined stop arms and said pintles are connected to the side portions of the upper sections by arm portions depending therefrom which carry outwardly directed hook portions on their lower ends having the pintles thereon, said hook portions engaging said stop arms to limit rearward swinging of said upper section relative to said base section.

4. In combination with the diagnostic articulator of claim 2, teeth model sections carried by the upper and lower sections thereof respectively, one of said model sections carrying a pin extending toward the other section and having a locating point, and the other model section being provided with a dimple socket for cooperating with said locating point of said pin.

5. A diagnostic articulator according to claim 3 in which said side legs of the base section converge toward their upper ends.

6. The combination of claim 4 in which the first model section carries a sleeve which receives a threaded inner portion on the pin, and a lock nut on said threaded portion of the pin for cooperating with said sleeve.

7. A diagnostic articulator according to claim 5 in which the base section has spaced sides joined to said upstanding leg portions at one end and connected together at their opposite ends by lateral portions all in the same plane, said portions having depending support legs extending therefrom.

8. A diagnostic articulator comprising a cast-supporting base section and a cast-supporting upper section made of resilient wire, said base section comprising a fiat base portion and a pair of laterally-spaced upstanding members, said upper section embodying a pair of laterally spaced members, the two pairs of members interfittlng so that one pair is within and adjacent the other, one of said pairs of members carrying hinge loops and the other of said pair of members carrying laterally directed hinge pintles, the inner pair of said members being spaced laterally greater than the other of said pair of members so that in assembling said sections the inner pair must be squeezed together to permit insertion of the pintles in said loops and thereby create and maintain frictional contact therebetween to keep the upper section in adjustable swung position relative to the base section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 905,479 Sykora Dec. 1, 1908 951,528 Haugeland Mar. 8, 1910 1,711,947 Ingwersen May 7, 1929 2,430,177 Johnson et a1 Nov. 4, 1947 

